''Glorious Betsy'' is a 1928 sound part-talkie drama film. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

sound-on-disc system. The film is based on the 1908 play of the same name by Rida Johnson Young, and it stars Dolores Costello. It was produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Writing, Adaptation in 1929. The film was directed by

Alan Crosland Frederick Alan Crosland (August 10, 1894 – July 16, 1936) was an American stage actor and film director. He is noted for having directed the first feature film using spoken dialogue, ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927) and the first feature movie with s ...

with

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

by Hal Mohr. A mute print of this sound film survives in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. The

soundtrack discs, which are needed to restore the sound to the film, may exist in private hands but are not currently known to exist at any archive. Vitaphone track survive incomplete at

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a nonpro ...

. Although the film was written by both Anthony Coldeway and Jack Jarmuth (the latter credited only for title cards); only Coldeway was nominated for the Academy Award. The 1961 Warner Bros. film '' Splendor in the Grass'' features a scene in which Bud Stamper (

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memor ...

) and his friends watch the film in a theater.

Plot

The film is a semi-historical narrative and depicts the real-life courtship, marriage, and forced breakup of

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), Kingdom of Westphalia, King of Westphal ...

, brother of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, and his wife from the American South, Elizabeth Patterson. Napoleon did not approve of the union (despite the fact that her family was one of the wealthiest in America), and the marriage was annulled. Jérôme was subsequently forced to marry Catharina of Württemberg. They had one child, depicted in the film, Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte. In order to provide a "happy ending", Jérôme in the film leaves France to be with his wife. However, in historical fact he remained in Europe.

Production

The film is based on the 1908 Broadway play written by Rida Johnson Young and starring Mary Mannering. It was produced by Lee and Jake Shubert, and opened at the Lyric Theatre on September 7, 1908. It only ran 24 performances and closed in September 1908. Future film players Charles Clary, Harrison Ford, and Maude Turner Gordon had roles in the production.Glorious Betsy, a play, at the Lyric Theatre New York 1908
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Cast

* Dolores Costello as Betsy Patterson *

Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1940, a ...

John Miljan John Miljan (November 9, 1892 – January 24, 1960) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1924 and 1958. Biography Born in 1892, Miljan was the tall, smooth-talking villain in Hollywood films for almost four deca ...

as Preston * Marc McDermott as Colonel Patterson *

Pasquale Amato Pasquale Amato (21 March 1878 – 12 August 1942) was an Italians, Italian operatic baritone. Amato enjoyed an international reputation but attained the peak of his fame in New York City, where he sang with the Metropolitan Opera from 1908 unti ...

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Michael Vavitch Mikhail Vavich () was a Russian actor, operetta and singer. Biography Mikhail first performed in 1905 on stage at St. Petersburg in a private operetta of Petr Tumpakov. He received recognition in 1906 after performing the role of the Viscount Ca ...

as Capt. St. Pierre * Andrés de Segurola as Capt. Du Fresne * Paul Panzer as The Ship's Captain
Clarissa Selwynne
as Aunt Mary * Betty Blythe as Princess Frederick

Premiere Vitaphone short films

''Glorious Betsy'' premiered at Warners Theatre in New York City on April 26, 1928.

Box office

According to records at Warner Bros., the film earned $815,000 in the U.S. and $153,000 in other markets.

References

External links

*
''Glorious Betsy'' at SilentEra

Poster of ''Glorious Betsy''
{{Alan Crosland 1928 films American black-and-white films Transitional sound drama films American films based on plays Warner Bros. films American silent feature films Films directed by Alan Crosland Films set in the 1800s Depictions of Napoleon on film 1920s historical drama films American historical drama films 1928 drama films 1920s American films Silent American drama films 1920s English-language films Part-talkie films English-language historical drama films